Luis Cessa lets Yankees down in loss to Rays

Spot starter Luis Cessa gave up five runs in a 6-1 loss to the Rays at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night.

NEW YORK — It’s easy to say how good the Red Sox have been when explaining why the Yankees — a team that could win 100 games — have a better chance at hitting the lottery while getting struck by lightning than winning the American League East.

Don’t forget the ways they have failed, though.

Wednesday’s 6-1 loss to the Rays — who are 14 games behind them — meant the Yankees have lost six of their last eight contests against Tampa Bay.

It also meant they’re just 27-25 in the division — and facing the unwelcome task of beating lefty ace Blake Snell and his 2.18 ERA on Thursday.

The Yankees have been bad against bad teams in their own backyard, so far going 6-6 against the last-place Orioles and 5-8 against Boston. Against the Rays, they’re 7-7, and they own a 9-5 mark vs. the fourth-place Blue Jays.

What it means

The Yankees fell to 75-45. The Rays improved to 61-59.

The Yankees are 4-3 on their season-long 11 game homestand. They’re 7-3 in their last 10 games.

The Yankees were 0-for-7 with hitters in running scoring position.

Cessa bad

With CC Sabathia (right knee inflammation) going on the disabled list Monday, the Yankees picked Cessa to fill his spot in the rotation.

They picked Cessa over top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield, who has been excellent lately at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and was scheduled to pitch Tuesday, but due to a rainout went Wednesday instead.

Of course, going with Sheffield would have meant the Yankees would have needed to subtract a player from their packed 40-man roster. And it would have meant less wiggle room with roster expansion just two weeks away.

Either way, Cessa didn’t work out.

What happened

The right-hander, who’s had shot after shot at proving himself since 2016, went just 3 1/3 innings, surrendering five runs on seven hits while striking out four and walking two.

He had been OK as a starter this season. Entering the night, he’d posted a 3.13 ERA in three starts.

He got into trouble early and never gave the Yankees much of a shot, though they were held down nicely by Jake Faria (3 1/3 innings, 1 ER) and Ryan Yarbrough (3 innings, 0 ER). Ex-Yankee Chaz Roe also threw 2/3 scoreless between them.

The Rays went up, 1-0, on a BRandon Lowe RBI single in the second. Miguel Andujar, who later doubled, homered in the second to tie it up at 1-all.

Andujar has five homers in his last nine games.

Two-run innings in the third and fourth from the Rays sank the Yankees.

In the fourth, Mallex Smith blasted a two-run shot off Cessa to right-field to put the Rays ahead, 5-1.

Sonny Gray made his third relief appearance of the season. The ex-starting pitcher gave up a run while surrendering four hits and three walks and striking out two in 3 1/3 innings.

Yankees hitter Nos. 6-9 combined to go 0-for-13. Giancarlo Stanton struck out three times.

Next

Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka (9-3, 4.08 ERA) vs. Rays lefty Blake Snell (13-5, 2.18 ERA) at 1:05 p.m. Thursday at Yankee Stadium.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.